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Ron Interview Transcribed
Ronald Leong: Hi, my name's Ronald Leong. I do stickers, badges, like I'm an illustrator so whatever I want to put on merchandise, cause you know, that's what I like.
Chop Gear: Is this a hobby or main line of business?
RL: This is my main business. I quit my job 2 years ago to take on this. I was a graphic designer before so I did a lot of like, bag illustrations and that and I figured, you know, I want to do this for myself and I want to give stuff that I want to give to people, so...
CG: How long have you been an artist?
RL: I've been doing this for about 2 and a half years, maybe longer.
CG: Did you study this field or are you self-taught?
RL: I went to Design school, Randburg, Damlin. I did graphic design for 2 years and then I started to work after that. I was in the graphic design industry for about 8 years.
CG: How much time do you spend refining your skill?
RL: It's bad because I started off on prints and it's a lot of hard work to get posters out, it's a lot of detail and you need something special to them. I started on that and then I moved onto other merchandise and I didn't have to work weeks at it.It was kind of nice because if I had an idea and wanted to put down or make a sticker or something like that and where posters will take me a lot longer. But now I've been a bit lazy so a lot of the stuff, you know I'm very busy with my business so I have to cut up my time between doing artwork and doing admin - it's a full time job and somehow I have to fit more into it on the drawing side and it's quite difficult but I'll get there. Take it slow.
CG: What inspired you to become an artist?
RL: When I was in primary school I think I always loved drawing and then when I met my friend, who drew all the time in school, drew ninja turtles, whatever we loved. We watched cartoons. I'm always inspired by whatever I watch like cartoons, anime, horror movies. I just want to put it down. I have it in my hands and I just want to see it there, physical. And I enjoy that. When you're actually sitting down drawing, you just get lost sometimes and that's what's exciting about doing artwork, that's what excites me about it. Just start enjoying it once you're sitting down and you're there and alone. It's awesome.
CG: Tips and encouragement for aspiring artists?
RL: I'd say what everybody says: Don't give up. You know, I've been at this a while and I started out really small like that. I started out on prints and I wanted to be known as an illustrator. I wanted to make money off of it and yes it's hard and you have to build up your skill, you can't just come here [Artist Alley] and think that things will sell. It's a lot of failure. You sometimes doubt yourself as an artist, you're always your hardest critic.
You always putting yourself out there when you present stuff to people and luckily for me that people like my stuff. I'm always happy that people like my merchandise and they like my artwork. I'm proud if it. Always be proud of your work even if you think that you're doing bad, you're probably right, you're probably doing bad but then that just gives you more incentive to get better and I've seen like plenty of blogs and other artists that started out bad, from primary school - just worked and worked - and now they're like people in Blizzard. Their art is for 3D, landscapes - they're amazing. I'm always so jealous because I have to work harder to get to their level because that's where i want to be on a personal level. For myself, I just want to make beautiful artwork and give it to people and I think, that's my goal. I think everyone has to find their goal.
End.
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